Dec. 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. 
383 
with the words "It^s lost for ever," When the 
buyer awoke next morning the yarn goes on to 
say that he remembered tlie dream so -vividly 
that he could not bring himself to buy at 
the sale — the price being then just about 3s 6d, 
with an apparently rising maikef. The poiut at 
the story lies in the fact that within a fortnight 
the price had gone down to .3s 3d and within the 
month it had sunk to 3s. So if he had bought 
before liis sixpence would have been " lost tor 
ever." Such a di earn may be merely a coincidence, 
but when it occurs it is apt to puzzle the man 
to account for it. The buyer in question has, we 
believe, never been visited ag.ain by such a truth- 
ful dreim, nor had the subject of rubber even ever 
been prominent during hisdeet before, nor has it 
been since. Any ot the gentlemen engaged in the 
same occupation who liave experienced simdar 
" portents" are invited to let us hear them. — 
India-rubber Trades' Journal, Sapt. 15, 
SNAKE BITES AND THEIR REiVIEDY. 
Now tiiat anti venene is generally employed as 
a remedy foi snake-bite in India, ic may interest 
the public to know something of its msthods of ap- 
plication. It should be premised that the effdct of 
snake-bite depends on (I) the quanity of venom 
injected in relation to the weight of the human 
being or animal bitten ; (2) whether the venom is 
injected into a blood vessel or into the tissues. 
If the fangs of the snake penetrated a blood- 
vessel and a sufficient a'nount of venom is injected 
into the circulation direct, the person or animal is 
doomed. In such a case there would be no time 
to u-(e anti-venene or any other remedy, and 
death might take place in ten or fifteen minutes. 
Luckily cases of this kind are quite the exception. 
On the other hand, when the snake injects the 
venom into the tissues death does not occur for 
hours, and frequently no symptoms set in for 
hours, also. It is in these instances that anti- 
venene can be effectively employed. It has beea 
demonstrated that the amount of venom which 
kills an animal of certain weight when given 
intra-venously takes from two to three hours to 
kill a similar animal of the same weight when 
given subcutaneously. The average time in which 
death takes place after cobra- bite is about eleven 
hours. The extremes vary from half-an-hour to 
twenty four hours ; so in the great majority of 
cobra cases there is ample time to use the remedy. 
When the patient is seen in good time, and before 
the symptoms have become advanced, the treat- 
ment is by subcutaneous injection ; if the 
dangerous stage seems to have been reached, it is 
best to inject direct into a vein. When given 
intra venously, this antidote acts very quickly and 
patients can be saved at a stage of the poisoning 
when it is not possible to save them by the 
ordinary subcutaneous method. Anti-venene is 
now being prepared at the Pasteur Institute. 
Kasauli, and India should soon ceases to be 
independent of Calmecte's laboratory at Lille, 
whence it has mostly bcei obtained. While 
on this siiUjeet we may refer to some 
recent statements regarding bites from mad 
dogs or jackals, and the applicatio i of tur- 
pentine, ammonia, etc., to the wounds. Pare 
carbolic iicid, phenyle, or the actual cuiteiyare 
probably the best forms of local treatment. Other 
,ciustics and turpentine are also benelicial ; but 
• no form of local application can be thoroughly 
relied upon to prevent the subsequent onset of 
hydrophobia, unless the wounds are very super- 
ficial and the caustic is immediately and most 
thoroughly applied. Cauterisation destroys some 
of the poison which the rabid animal implants in 
the wound, when the application is made within 
a few hours of the bite— some authorities even 
say up to twenty-four hours; but after twenty- 
four hours it is certainly useless. It is quesiiou- 
able whether it does any good after ten hours. 
In every case it is desirable to use cauterisation 
of some kind as early as possible ; and if no 
application is available, the wound can always be 
thoroughly washed with water. The object aimed 
it is to get rid of as much of the poison from the 
wound as possible, either by applying caustic or 
by washing it out. By this means the incubation 
period is prolonged and time is gained for success- 
ful treatment at a Pasteur Institute, — Pioneer, 
Oct. 29. 
AN AUXILIARY PKODUCT TO TEA. 
(To the Editor of the H, & C, Mail.) 
Sib, — At the last annual meeting ot the Indian 
Tea Association I was glad to notice that Mr 
Robert Hait, who had for many years practical 
experience of tea planting and enjoys the reputa- 
tion of being an aathority on all that concerns tea, 
advised the planting out of an auxiliary product to 
tea, such as sisal fibre, grown from the " Sisalana 
Agave," and, better still, that he has the courage of 
his convictions, as I learn from good authority he 
has arranged for the necessary seedlings to plant 
out between six and seven hundred acres during 
the nest three years. 
This would serve as aid to the profitable working 
of tea concerns, not only by being in itself a valu- 
able commercial product, but also by covering the 
cost of the obligatory employment of the whole 
labour force during the slackest part of the year, 
that is to say, the complete labour force in a garden 
is only required eight or nine months of the year, 
whilst the rest of the months a good half of the 
coolies are given employment in Sylhet, more with 
a view to their receiving living wages than for any 
direct benefit. 
In planting out sisal on land belonging to a tea 
garden, the initial cost of the plants, and in three 
or for years' time the purchase of a fibre- extracting 
machine, would be the only items of prominent ex- 
penditure. The cost of planting should be small, as 
putting out from 730 to 1,000 plants per acre is all 
that is necessary. There would be the existing 
establishments, both European and native, engine 
and boiler, buildings, labour force, &e., to be fur- 
ther employed and used in the production of the 
fibre ; the only direct chargeable items would be 
the actual piy of the coolies employed in planting 
out and upkeep of the plants. Besides the above 
advantages, land unsuitable for tea would be made 
productive under sisal. Belonging to most, if not 
all, tea estates such land is to be found. Also those 
parts of a garden planted with tea giving little, if 
any, remunerative results, would trrow sisal to 
advantage. The benefits of planting out sisal as an 
aid to the prosperity of tea concerns should be 
great. The demand for fibre, such as the " Sisa- 
lana Agave " produces, according to all informa- 
mation obtained from reliabli soirees, promises 
well for some years to come, and evi-n if with the 
natural increase of production, prices should fall, 
Inilia, with its cheap labour, will always hold its 
own, certainly with all those countries which now 
produce it, K. Wood. 
—H, & C. Mail, Oct. 10. 
